[Marxism] Alfred Russell Wallace

[Louis Proyect]

Mark Lause wrote:
> Alfred Russell Wallace was also a devoted spiritualist, in addition to be a
> brilliant researcher and thinker.
> 


http://www.columbia.edu/~lnp3/mydocs/ecology/gould.htm

Last night Stephen Jay Gould spoke at the Brecht Forum on "Science and 
Human Destructiveness."

The general question of the social role of science was viewed through 
the prism of the career of Alfred Russell Wallace, a contemporary of 
Darwin. Wallace developed a theory of natural selection independently of 
Darwin and the two men came to an agreement to publish their initial 
findings jointly in 1858.

Wallace was also a Fabian Socialist, and was deeply concerned about the 
conflicts between science, which he regarded as intrinsically good, and 
society which he regarded as a corrupting influence. These concerns form 
the content of "Forecasts of the Coming Century," which was written near 
the end of the 19th century.

Like all Fabians and much of late 19th century utopian socialism, 
Wallace believed strongly in progress. Marxian socialism had little 
impact on these thinkers, who instead tried to blend a progressive 
strand of Social Darwinism with vague socialist beliefs. They were very 
much products of Victorian culture and viewed their mission as 
enlightening the public. They have a kinship with Dickens and other 
reformers of the era.

Wallace thought that science could raise mankind to a higher level in 
the coming 20th century only if the forces of superstition and greed 
were defeated. His book catalogs all the great breakthroughs of the era, 
including the steam engine, telegraph and electric light.

By the same token, he was dismayed by capitalism's tendency to keep 
society in its thrall. He attacks military spending and the increasing 
class differentiation in English society. While more wealth was being 
produced, the gap between rich and poor was also increasing at the same 
time. As a scientist, he was particularly outraged by the negligence of 
industrialists who exposed workers to mercury and phosphorus, 
by-products of manufacturing. These substances could injure or kill the 
worker and Wallace called for the imprisonment of any guilty factory-owner.

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